The Perry Homestead

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Home of the in-laws of author Charles W. Chesnutt. Chesnutt lived here from 1878 to 1880 with his wife Susan immediately following their marriage.


Images

  • The Perry Homestead: an image of the home blended with a photograph of the location in 2018.
    The Perry Homestead: an image of the home blended with a photograph of the location in 2018.
  • Overlay Map: a modern Google Map with satellite view enabled blended with the location of the Perry Homestead in 1908.
    Overlay Map: a modern Google Map with satellite view enabled blended with the location of the Perry Homestead in 1908.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Later information shows the location of the home as follows: 1909-10 city directory shows Mary Catherine Perry, Chesnutt’s mother-in-law, as living at 309 Mumford Street (now known as West Russell Street). The April 1908 Sanborn Map shows 309 Mumford Street almost directly across from where the Fayetteville Area Transportation Museum is now. 

On 5 February 1912, the home was sold to Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad Company for $8,000 by Mary Catherine’s descendants (including Chas. Chesnutt). 

By the time of the January 1914 Sanborn Map, the home was no longer standing.

Sources

Fayetteville, Cumberland Co., N.Carolina, April 1908. UNC Chapel Hill. . . https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ncmaps/id/5142/rec/5. 

Fayetteville, N.C. Directory [1909-1910]. DigitalNC, https://bit.ly/2YB5DMj.

Insurance Maps of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, Jany. 1914. UNC Chapel Hill. . . https://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/ncmaps/id/5186/rec/7.